Web & Software Developer

Georgia Alternative Font Family For Ubuntu

If you use the Georgia font on your web pages, you probably set a CSS font family similar to this:

font-family:Georgia, serif

The Georgia font is not included in Ubuntu or other Linux systems. So, visitors to your website that are on Ubuntu or Linux, instead of seeing your attractive Georgia font, will see a boring serif font on your pages.

To fix this, you need to update your CSS font-family to include a font that is equivalent or similar to the Georgia font but is available on Ubuntu or Linux.

Two Ubuntu/Linux fonts which are similar alternatives to Georgia are “Bitstream Charter” and “URW Bookman L.”

“Bitstream Charter” font looks like this:

“URW Bookman L” font looks like this:

So, to make sure your Georgia font looks good to all your visitors, including Windows users, Mac users, and Ubuntu/Linux users, this is a better Georgia font-family to use in your CSS:

font-family:Georgia, "Bitstream Charter", "URW Bookman L", serif

Why use both Bitstream Charter and URW Bookman L? Well, it’s not absolutely necessary, and it really depends on whether you prefer the first one or the second one.

If you prefer Bitstream Charter, then you should list both in the font-family. This is because Bitstream Charter is found in most, but not all, Linux distributions. URW Bookman L is found in even more, almost all, Linux distributions. So, those that don’t have Bitstream Charter will likely have URW Bookman L. Listing both fonts will ensure that virtually everyone will see a nice Georgia or alternative font, rather than boring serif.

However, if you prefer URW Bookman L over Bitstream Charter, then you can omit Bitstream Charter from the font-family, and simply use this in your CSS: